He’s saying what a lot of people are thinking.
LeBron James is weighing in on video of Kyle Rittenhouse taking the stand and crying during his murder trial Wednesday afternoon (November 11).
Via Twitter, the Los Angeles Lakers star made his first public comments about the Kenosha shooter, who is accused of killing two Black Lives Matter protesters and injuring another. Resharing a USA Today tweet with video of the 18-year-old sobbing while testifying, James wrote, “What tears????? I didn’t see one. Man knock it off! That boy ate some lemon heads before walking into court,” accompanied by laughing emojis.
Rittenhouse took the stand on Wednesday (Nov. 10) in his own defense and during his testimony, he broke down in tears as he described the incident in which he says he felt he was given no choice but to shoot three people, killing two.
The Antioch, Ill., man is charged with two counts of homicide for fatally shooting Anthony Huber, 26, Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and wounding Gaige Grosskreutzduring a 2020 demonstration over the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
At the time he was 17 and his attorneys argue that he was legally permitted to carry the AR-15 rifle he used in the shooting.
Under questioning from his attorney of the moments leading up to the shooting, he described being chased, ambushed by the crowd, which included Rosenbaum screaming threats at him, he said.
”I look over my shoulder, and Mr. Rosenbaum was now running from my right side, and I was cornered from…in front of me…There were people right there,” Rittenhouse said, before breaking down.
Judge Bruce E. Schroeder called for a 10-minute recess before testimony began again.
In an effort to paint a picture of Rittenhouse as a helpful volunteer and not a killer, his attorney Mark Richards asked the now 18-year-old Rittenhouse questions about his efforts as a volunteer medic on Aug. 25, 2020, the night of the shooting, to assist people who had been tear-gassed during the protest, The New York Times reports. He said in his testimony to Richards that in the chaos, he was being chased by a crowd and had been cornered.
